When IO Interactive and Square Enix announced their newest foray into the Hitman franchise, the gaming community was extremely skeptical about the episodic nature of the upcoming game. But, as it turns out, it’s been massively successful. Each new episode has been fantastic, and the wait and anticipation between parts has been lessened by the addition of the elusive targets and escalation missions.

With the newest addition to the game, Colorado, Hitman continues down its path of greatness. The beautiful level design paired with the four, yes, four targets in the level leave you craving another chance at winning each time you die. And yes, you die. A lot. I must’ve spent six hours trying to finally get past it.

But the good thing was that I finally beat a Hitman level on my own. See, every time a new level came out, I would get onto my favorite streamer’s channel and check out his newest playthrough. If you’re not familiar with Many a True Nerd, you most definitely should be. He’s a British Youtube streamer that does everything from Fallout to Viva Piñata, and he’s the reason I bought Hitman in the first place.

Watching someone else go through it, of course, is extremely helpful. But it kind of takes the fun out of it. I didn’t get the skills or level knowledge that I should have by playing through the level on my own first. But Colorado would be different. I saw a new upload and decided I wouldn’t watch it. I went into this new level completely blind. But doing so helped me get up to mastery level 8 on after my first time beating the level, which was very rewarding.

That’s not to say it wasn’t frustrating. Frustrating is the perfect word for it. Like I said earlier, there’s now four targets for you to take out. Each level has definitely been more difficult than the last (Paris had two, Sapienza had two and a virus disposal, Marrakesh had two, and Bangkok had two with a massive level that was entirely off limits to you), but Colorado takes this up a notch.

As soon as you enter the level, you’re hostile. Well, of course you yourself are hostile, but everyone around you is also hostile.

… You’re trespassing. That’s what I’m trying to get at. I found the easiest way around this was to go immediately to your right and pick up a militia disguise. It’s quick, and it gets you in to quite a few places on the map. I really can’t imagine getting ‘Suit Only’ on this level. It’s going to be tough to say the least.

But constantly hostile enemies and four targets make this level a lot of fun. There’s more than a few ways to dispatch your targets, and in classic Hitman fashion, you definitely get creative. I’m not going to spoil much in the way of feats or challenges, but all of the usuals are found here, including a brand new scarecrow costume.

The level design is also beautiful. I really wouldn’t expect anything different, though. Each new level has been spectacular, and every little detail is carefully crafted. I’ll never forget the first time I went for the fireworks achievement in Paris. I pulled the trigger on the fireworks display, looked up into the sky, and saw a tiny red blip floating by. They actually took the time to create an airplane effect and put it into the game. Even if you’re not looking up, even if you’re not paying attention, that little red blip goes floating by.

I think that’s one of the reasons I love this game, and Colorado makes me love it that much more: it may be small, but there’s a lot packed into this quaint Colorado farm.

I’m going to be sad when the last level comes out, but luckily IO recently announced that they’d like to continue the series with season 2 and another 6 episodes. I remember playing Hitman when I was a kid and I absolutely hated it. Now that I’ve grown up and gotten a bit more patient (emphasis on bit), I’m really enjoying it. If you still haven’t picked up… er… downloaded Hitman, it’s definitely worth your time and money. Or you could just wait until January to get it on disk. Whichever you prefer.

 

Reed’s Review Corner:

Hitman: Colorado

Score:

8.5 bullets out of 10

Pros:

Beautiful level design.

Creative kills.

Fun fun fun.

Cons:

Four targets make this level the hardest yet.

(This is a pro or a con, depending on how you look at it.)

Bug in game leads to some interesting ‘talk to’ / ‘blend in’ options.